These Rides Really Sleigh

Let’s talk about sleigh rides. Oh what fun they are. Tons of composers found it fun to write music inspired by them and, thus, sleigh rides have gotten turned into Sleigh Ride.

There’s the one we all know. The story goes that Leroy Anderson composed his extreme hit during an extreme heatwave in the summer of 1946. But it actually took Anderson two years to complete his Sleigh Ride. It was worth the wait, though. The piece quickly became a hit and remains ubiquitous today. It has peaked in the Top 25 on various record charts in 19 different countries, including Portugal, Lithuania, Australia, and of course here in the United States. But Anderson’s mid-century masterpiece is the OG Sleigh Ride. He has lots of company behind those reins.

For example, Mozart. Around the same time as he was composing his final three symphonies, Mozart had a job writing dance music for the public ballrooms at the Imperial Palace in Vienna. He wrote ten sets of German Dances numbering more than 50 individual dances in all. One of his final sets is a trio of dances which ends with one called Schlittenfahrt. Be careful saying that title out loud without any context in an English-speaking public place, but it translates to Sleigh Ride. It’s easy to hear why: just wait for those jingle bells to kick in.

You don’t have to wait for jingle bells in the Sleigh Ride by British composer Frederick Delius. They start the piece. Like Mozart’s ride, Delius’ is part of a trio of short pieces. Not dances in Delius’ case, rather they are seasonal pieces: Summer Evening, Sleigh Ride, and Spring Morning. (We’re reasonably sure Delius also composed a representation of Autumn, but if so, that score has been lost.) In the score, Delius describes his Sleigh Ride: “One Christmas eve I stood in the open air. The moon shone bright over the billowing landscape. The sound of an approaching sleigh was heard from a distance, but it soon rushed by and disappeared. And then gradually it was once stiller and brighter and peaceful.”

Oh what fun it is to ride in a…three-horse open sleigh? Yup, we’re talking troika! A triple-harnessed sleigh that could reach speeds of up to 30 miles-per-hour, making it some of the fastest land-based transportation in the 17th-19th century. The Russians invented it and often used it for high-speed mail delivery. Many different Russian composers wrote music inspired by these sleigh rides, including Prokofiev, who incorporates and old Hussar song in his and Tchaikovsky who uses the piano to evoke sleigh bells.

Next, it’s a sleigh with a ski rack. This brief piece by John Carmichael, originally for solo piano and orchestrated here by Philip Lane, is the last movement from Carmichael’s Thredbo Suite. It was inspired by the alpine resort village and ski resort of Thredbo in New South Wales, Australia. Sleighride to Thredbo is a charmer of a piece with delightful twists and turns, but thankfully, no moguls.

Our tour of non-Leroy sleigh rides began with Mozart and it ends with Mozart. Wolfgang cracked the whip and his dad, Leopold, gives us the final word…with the help of some dogs. Yes, dogs.

As we head into the holiday season, keep your ears open for these and other snowy musical adventures on Classical California. On our mobile app, you can get that wintry mix 24/7 via the Christmas channel. It’s streaming now!